My best piece of travel gear seems to be one of the most simple. Yet, it is my bible on the road, going with me absolutely everywhere I go: my Travel Journal.

A travel journal can be so much more than a diary of the events of your travels. For me, it is a way of taking down quick notes, creating to-do lists, writing the contact information of old and new friends, and collecting research about future destinations in one place.

Once filled, my travel journals are a combination of pages with scribbles and crossed out lists, addresses of people back home as well as those I’ve met on the road, quick sketches or impressions of places that had an effect on me, and information gathered about each place I’ve visited. Going back through it is a unique way of reliving the time I used the journal, even if I didn’t do any actual journaling in it.

For me, there are no rules to using a travel journal. I simply record anything and everything that I may need to reference at a later time. It is my scheduler, and keeps me organized and on track. It is a catch-all for information I wouldn’t know where to store elsewhere.